Huskies seek opening trifecta against Caldwell

September 6, 2012

CADIZ - The Harrison Central football team welcomes Caldwell at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the home opener for the Huskies.

"It will be nice to play at home for a change," Huskies head coach Justin Kropka said with a laugh.

It's not like the road has been terrible for Kropka's bunch, winning Week 1, 14-7, over Wheeling Central in the Island and last week, 36-7, at Weir High.

"It's great being 2-0, but we still have things to work on," Kropka said.

"I like how we are playing on defense. We are still making some mental mistakes that we need to work on, but we're getting to the ball and we have kids who like to hit. We obviously have to correct the mental errors, but I really like the fact that we are running around the field hitting people."

Caldwell is 0-2 after losing games to Newcomerstown and Buckeye Trail.

Fact Box

Harrison Central

(games at 7:30 p.m. unless noted)

14 Wheeling Central 7

36 at Weir High 7

Sept. 7 Caldwell

Sept. 14 Martins Ferry

Sept. 21 St. Clairsville

Sept. 28 at Edison

Oct. 5 Bellaire

Oct. 12 at Indian Creek, 7 p.m.

Oct. 19 at Union Local, 7 p.m.

Oct. 26 Buckeye Local

Maurtice Hython has 314 yards on 36 carries and two scored for Harrison Central. Rashaen Mitchell has 94 yards on 11 attempts. Mitchell is 14-of-21 through the air for 296 yards and two scores. Nate Olmstead has caught four of those passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns.

Nick Pelegreen leads the offense with 28 tackels, six for loss and a sack. Nate Maykowski and Josh Leggett have 17 tackles each.

"We have been making mental mistakes on both sides of the ball and we just have to stop that," said Kropka. "We have left about 28 points on the field in two weeks - two scores on turnovers and two on penalties.

"That doesn't make me really happy because we will not be able to do that down the road."

It's a fix Kropka is working on in practice.

"What we are trying to do is nothing different than most schools do," he said. "We try to put the kids under pressure, especially when you are playing an opponent where you are favored. We try to do things to make them make mistakes.

"If they make a mistake, we come back and do it again and it's all done under game conditions."